OPTICON FP7 (2013-2016) WP12 - Medium Sized Telescope Integration

The Directors of all European medium-size (2-4m) night-time telescopes will be invited meet approximately once a year to coordinate their strategies for the development of their facilities etc. This forum will not be restricted to facilities providing TNA via WP7 , but will also invite ESO, observatories in Central Europe and operators of robotic telescopes. The Forum will also provide oversight of the TNA programme (WP7) and endorse the results of the Common TAC process.

A Common Time Allocation Committee will meet twice per year to rank TNA proposals in order of scientific merit. The committee members, initially a single panel of 7, will be drawn from nominations by national TACs to ensure two-way communication and a good understanding of the standards of national proposals. External scientific experts will be consulted during the peer review process. Feedback will be provided to all applicants, especially unsuccessful ones, in order to raise the overall standard of the applications.